Street Fighter 4 Announced
In 1991, Street Fighter II was released on an unsuspecting public that would forever be changed by shouts of “Hadouken!” and “Yoga Flame!”

While Street Fighter III was released five years later, over a decade ago, it didn’t have the impact of SFII, and the series languished somewhat ever since, with the various characters appearing here and there in a variety of games ranging from puzzle games to other “mash-up” fighting games. It seemed that Capcom’s plans to reinvigorate Street Fighter were non-existent.

This week in London, however, it was revealed that Capcom was indeed hard at work at Street Fighter IV, when the company unveiled a super-sexy, highly-stylized trailer for the game. Looking a bit like Capcom’s own Okami, the trailer plays out like a moving painting, with Ken and Ryu kicking the shit out of each other.

If the game looks anything like the trailer–and we tend to believe that it will–we are in for something that will certainly look amazing. Whether or not the game will be 2D or 3D is up in the air, as is a release date.

Want To Be on the Halo 3 Soundtrack?
Microsoft did everything possible to emblazon Halo 3 onto your brain before the game’s release, and it appears the company isn’t letting up (even though the game has sold a bajillion copies), as plans to give fans the Halo 3 Original Soundtrack were unveiled this week.

Set for release in time for Thanksgiving, not only will the orchestrated soundtrack feature the game’s original tunes by award winning composer Marty O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori, but Microsoft is also sponsoring a contest to find an artist or band to be included on the double disc collection.

Submissions are being accepted on the Halo 3 MySpace page until 12 p.m. PST on October 22.

Judging will be done by album producers Nile Rodgers, Michael Ostin, composers O’Donnell and Steve Vai (!), as well as by crappy bands The Used and Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. Meh.

The winners will get their songs on the soundtrack and will also receive a bunch of Halo 3 branded gadgets and an Ibanez Xiphos guitar. Second and third place winners will also get the schwag.

Mike Patton To Be Bionic Commando
Capcom is on quite a roll this week, as it also announced that a true classic from 1988, Bionic Commando for the NES, will be receiving a long-overdue update.

The series originally revolved around a super soldier who could not jump, and instead used a bionic, extendable claw to reach greater heights while battling what amounted to thinly veiled Nazis.

The new Bionic Commando finds you instead playing a war criminal who is set free along with your bionic arm, as you are the only one who can infiltrate a new evil army’s inner sanctuary.

While shots of the game certainly look great, the best news so far is that Mike Patton (Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Tomahawk, Handsome Boy Modeling School, etc. etc.) will be playing the voice of the games protagonist, Nathan Spencer aka the Bionic Commando.

This shit is going to be wild.